Drone Delivery Is Taking Off In India

We talk with Ankeith, CEO and founder of Sky Air, about why India is sprinting ahead in autonomous drone delivery and what it takes to scale from impressive pilots to millions of real drops. We break down why physical AI infrastructure is the make-or-break layer for last-mile autonomy, then zoom in on the tech and operations behind Level 4 and Level 5 drones. 

• Our partnership in India and why a drone partner is essential to bringing the network to market 
• Sky Air’s delivery scale, growth goals, and reported carbon emissions savings 
• Why physical AI infrastructure and standardized delivery points unlock reliability 
• Where humanless delivery starts making sense, including secure tech parks 
• The viral joint demo and what it signals about public readiness 
• How NVIDIA Jetson, Omniverse testing, and autonomy levels connect to safer scaling

Stay tuned. 

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_04 0:04

Hi, everybody, and welcome to another Dan Show. Hey Dan.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Hey guys. Hey Kyler. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 0:09

We have an exciting uh guest today.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Is it me?

SPEAKER_04 0:12

Always. You're the number one exciting guest.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

You guys knew that already.

SPEAKER_04 0:16

Um we have somebody who is joining us from very far away.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

I know. It's Ankeith.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

Unkeith, yeah. So um let's bring on Keith in. So let's let's introduce like who he is. Ankeith, he's um the CEO and founder of Sky Air. So let's uh on Keith, we're gonna bring you in. Let everybody see you. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Hey, hi, how are you guys?

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Great man. Hey, thanks for joining. It's great to see you uh almost in person.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

It's just amazing to be on your show. You know, I I can feel the energy passing through the 2,000 miles that we are far away.

SPEAKER_04 0:53

What time is it? What time is it right now?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

It's like 8 30 p.m.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Can we get that energy? Can we get that energy to stop at to go through our stock price on the way to India and pop that thing up?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Absolutely, and we should do that, you know. So my energy is getting rising up, and I'm sure it's morning for you. So there's a bright, bright day ahead to do

Why India Leads Drone Delivery

SPEAKER_00 1:20

lots of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Yeah, so to give um our listeners and viewers a little bit of context of our relationship with Ankeith is um when we were in India and even well before when we were in India at the AI summit there, we've had a very close relationship with Sky Air because a drone partner is integral in us bringing to market our platform and our network.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Absolutely. We have our man on the ground in India, Kieran Paul. Kieran's a great guy. Kieran uh got to know uh Unkeith and brought us together. So really I love Kieran. Uh love the relationship that we're forging here. And I think the sky is the limit, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Yeah, Unkeith, um, you've had some big announcements lately too about um just what's going on. You've done some fundraising and some some great momentum over there in India.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, I mean, it's just rising up. There's this tons of things. I think 2026 is going to really be a very defining year for drone deliveries. Uh, past two and a half years, we did about 3.6 million deliveries, saving about 1,000 tons of carbon emissions. And there's this amount of things that we are now expanding towards. We just raised uh 9 million CDS B. Uh, we're going to utilize the money to go to multiple cities, multiple metropolitan cities, and then grow the whole momentum that people have got in here right now. And that's amounting. As you spoke about the AI Impact Summit, I think the government bringing more than you know about 300,000 people coming together in that kind of a show was tremendous. It was a show that AI is no longer an offshoot and just a topic to discuss, it's a part of everyone's life, right? And we with Arrive AI are taking that to the next level with bringing a physical

Infrastructure As The Real Bottleneck

SPEAKER_00 3:10

AI infrastructure.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

I love it. Hey, one thing I want to I remember that you said, which was a really cool statement that validated what we believe in. That is you really feel like the infrastructure is the most important, important part of the whole last mile autonomous ecosystem. Didn't you say that?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Absolutely. You know, building the entire infrastructure and creating that level of thing is uh sort of sort of the key element or the key ingredients to make drone deliveries possible. So it's it's very so India is a very diversified country, it's a very densely populated country, and every city has got its own dynamics, right? Um, I live in Delhi and CR. So Kirkau has got the dynamics of being into more apartment culture, residential townships. And then Delhi has got a culture of individual houses and row houses and things like that. So I think having a common connect, and I think I think AP3's arrive points essentially becomes a common connect where you keep on establishing more and more units at different places, do all deliveries to drones, and let the last leg of things be done by the humans today, and eventually the rovers and things which can start plugging in and doing different amounts of different elements of things out there, right? So, yes, I I think

Security Zones And Humanless Delivery

SPEAKER_00 4:30

I think infra is a super key element out here.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Hey, I was gonna say talk about what we were able to achieve between autonomy, sky air, and arrive AI over in India in the last couple weeks. Tell them about what we did.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

I think that's the foundation of uh what we're going to create as a physical AI infrastructure, right? At the end of the day, uh there are places in India, large IT parks, tech parks, where we see that the humans are not allowed, the riders, the delivery agents are not allowed because of security reasons. I think that becomes the prime area to begin from, where we are looking at a complete asynchronous, end-to-end, humanless deliveries. That's the future which we are talking about here. And we three coming together is sort of blending in the entirety of technologies which have been built by each one of us and sort of add value to a larger extent. So I think I'm super excited. You know, I've been talking to my team and telling my team we are diversifying too much, doing about 40 odd people in the tech, both hardware and software. The engineering team is increasing on a daily basis, and we're trying to work on numerous things to plug in each of these three elements together and to have numbers of sites coming up. I think I think Dan, in three weeks, we will have the first site live. And I'm super excited for that.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

That is exciting. I think something too that brings a lot of value to this conversation is recognizing the fact that India is leaps and bounds ahead of the United States as far as autonomous deliveries. And you're, you know, how just tell everybody how many deliveries that you're making autonomously a year right now.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

A year we are doing about two million. This year, the the financial year, which for us starts in April. Uh, April to March is typically our financial year. We are looking at crossing about five million deliveries in a year. So we're literally talking about doubling up of what we are doing at this given point of time.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

So Ankeith brings a unique perspective to the need for the infrastructure because they've advanced to this point, are making so many deliveries, and he's seeing firsthand the missing link.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Absolutely. It's talk about the perception

Viral Demo And Government Push

SPEAKER_02 6:45

that you that you received when we unified, sorry, and showed this joint delivery between robots, drones, and a ride points. Like, what was the media frenzy? Yeah, yeah, right. I want to hear about that. Tell our tell our viewers about that.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

I think I think that became one of the most viral video which has been circulating around. To the best estimate that I have, I think there's already about seven, eight million views. Um like everybody, wherever I go, everybody is talking about hey, how is this gonna be possible, how things work. So I think I think people in general are super excited to know more nuances around how things are coming together and how this entire thing is being built up. One thing I must say that the government is very much progressive and they're pushing it very hard out here to ensure that the inclusion of AI goes to everyone's life. And logistics is one such key element, which is there. It's the backbone of the country. People are looking at utilizing uh you know autonomous deliveries, people are looking at utilizing different other elements to ensure that you are able to do faster deliveries. We are, I think we are the largest in the world right now in terms of the quick commerce adaptability of getting things delivered in seven minutes and ten minutes. And now I saw two days back Amazon announcing one ho and three hour deliveries in the US, right? So that's that's happening literally after India took off in a massive manner for them. So I think there's certain examples which India is setting for the entire world to follow. And I think I think the physical AI infrastructure that we're building out here is gonna be one of them.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Hey, let's get that video and play it on here so everyone can see that. Let's let's add another 8 million viewers to that.

Sky Air Promo And US Plans

SPEAKER_04 8:45

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

On the outskirts of your cities, innovation isn't just moving, it's taking a flight. A flight waiting to trigger a revolution. Like that is rewriting India's logistics landscape. No congestion, no traffic, zero emissions. We don't just navigate without obstacles, we rise above them. Sky Air, powered by a partnership with Alive, AI, and Atomy. Together, we are not just dropping packages, we are engineering time itself. So you don't wait for logistics anymore. Logistics wait for you. Sky Air.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

Hey, we need to get you over in it in the U.S. man. Uh, we got a spot in our corporate warehouse in office. Love to have you come do some work here with us uh stateside as well. How about that?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Absolutely. I think I think US is

NVIDIA Tech Stack And Scaling Autonomy

SPEAKER_00 9:45

certainly on the radar, and we are very excited to explore that and come to US one day and uh do multiple things out there.

SPEAKER_04 9:52

Also, you know, we are uh a part of the NVIDIA connect program. You guys are a part of the NVIDIA inception program. So I was wanting to ask you, how what has that done for you and what ways are you leveraging that to advance advance your goals and your product?

SPEAKER_00 10:11

I think we recently became a part of the NVIDIA inception program. And I think I think a couple of things that we're trying to work around with uh with them, we're already using the Jetson nanos on on the on the drones, which is working out to be a better compute module for us. They have announced a few more things which are coming up now, better compute modules uh which are which are getting utilized, etc., into the drones to enable the autonomy of the drone. We already are level five, level four autonomous drones. Uh we do have to keep a man in the ground just from the regulatory perspective to manage and do things. Uh, we are working on one is to two ratio, so one pilot for every two drones. We want to take it to one is to five and eventually one is to twenty. Um, that's a global benchmark that we have to follow in place over there. And I think Nvidia's support in in achieving those goals are gonna be super critical. We're also very excited about the Omniverse, uh, where we can test out the new products that we are looking at building all together. Uh, we are we're also looking at taking from 10 kilos capacity that we have got on the drones to about 25 kilos and 50 kilos, which will eventually come down here as well. So I think I think super excited to work with them. Uh, they have been supportive so far. And we're looking at multiple applications

Autonomy Levels Explained

SPEAKER_00 11:25

and use cases emerging out of what we are doing and what we're trying to achieve out here.

SPEAKER_04 11:29

You said you were level four. Can you talk us through the different levels and what it takes to achieve level four and then what comes after that?

SPEAKER_00 11:38

So, level four autonomy is uh typically where the human in the loop is only to monitor and see the parameters where the drones are traveling from A to B. Uh, not much of the manual command and things are there. So it's not, it's it's like human is only in the loop to monitor the progress of the drone. It's not assisting it. Level three is more about the human assisting and taking control of the drone during the landing and takeoffs and things like that. Level five is where we don't have the human on the ground. We rather have the central command taking control of each and everything. So we're talking about a pilotless environment where the pilot will not be on the ground, but rather sitting in the command center and the drones is doing every single thing by itself. So that becomes the tricky part, right? Because you have a pre-flight checks, you have to do a lot of elements, you have to swap the battery, you have to put the payloads. We are looking at automating each and every element on those lines in the next couple of years to achieve level five and then go forward.

SPEAKER_04 12:39

It's incredible. Um, it's important for us to have partners like Skyair because of the automation

Wrap Up News And Syndication

SPEAKER_04 12:45

sequence to have that asynchronous nature, no human in the loop. Right. But the winch has been critical. And Skyair is one that has been able to integrate with us and perform those automated deliveries without a human pilot, you know, guiding the drone. It's just the drone takes off. It's it's really incredible to watch and it makes for just such a seamless and smooth delivery.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Absolutely. The world's ready. We this is our moment. So um we got to keep it going here. But hey, one thing I want to say is we're this is always alive. Our philosophy is one and done. We don't retake anything. When Kylie messes up, she wants to reshoot it. We're not doing it. So, in transparency, somebody knocked really hard at our door earlier. We ignored it, we're gonna keep going. But my promise to you guys want to figure out who did that. We're gonna put a picture of that person up at the end of this. So if you're wondering about that, stay tuned because I want to find out.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

I have an idea.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Okay, well, let's let's keep it a surprise. But yeah, they're gonna learn not to do that, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Should we put them in the um like a a jail garment or something?

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Yeah, let's have some fun with it. It's none of the three of us, so we're safe, but yeah, you'll stay tuned to the end.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

Um, but yeah, there they're uh yeah, I knew that was gonna happen too. I even it always does. Yes, we need a red light outside of your transparency communications.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

You get you get it raw, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Debakes.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Yeah, that's right. Hey man, really appreciate you coming on with us today from across the world. Uh, looking forward to getting you over here with us and doing some big things here as well. Want to deploy over there with you in a big way. Uh let's keep building the future together, okay, man.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Absolutely. And we have pretty much on with you on that. And we love the partnership with Arrive AI and the sort of energy that the entire team has got. So, thank you very much for having me there. And I was I was very curious to come on the dance show for a very long time. So that's that's great. I I I think I think you keep on progressing and have more and more people come to your show and increase the entire kind of followers and everything that you're doing out there. So it's amazing, it's super eccentric, and looking forward to be there.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Real quick, we got some great new news to report about this. Kylie, tell tell them about the Dan Show syndication.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

Yeah, we're gonna be uh we already are syndicated now on uh Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and then we're soon gonna be on iHeart and many other platforms.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Absolutely. It's all happening because of you, man.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

Yeah. I do I do want to say that this was just an introduction to the world. We wanted to um have everybody meet on Keith, but we have every intention of having you back on and picking your brain as far as um the pulse of automated delivery, how drones are advancing, the AI behind it. We have so many different things that we could use your expertise to bring some context to to life.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

And congrats again on your raise. We know you just took in nine million dollars. That's huge. I'd like to think it was all because of us. Just kidding. Congrats to them, man.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

So uh probably because of you guys, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Uh hey, let's you know, one plus one equals three. That's what I always say, right? Let's go, let's go blow this thing up, man. Arrive AI, ticker AR AI. Uh, maybe you'll be on the stock exchange soon with us somehow. Uh you never know, right? Things happen.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

All right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

All right, Unkeith.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

Okay, thanks so much for your time.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Seeing you, man. Thanks for joining, man. All right, stay safe. See you, man. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Great days, guys. Stay tuned. Bye bye.

unknown 16:20

Bye.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Um Robert, our VP of sales, also said that Unkeith was just the most gracious, hospitable host. And um, had him over for dinner. It was just um, it seemed like a very, very um successful trip.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Thanks for I wish we would have brought that up earlier. Very hospitable. We'll have the red carpet for Rob Rex, big time. I I wish you would have brought that up. Sorry. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

I was going to, um, but yeah, it's a great we've interested now.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Okay, yeah. That's shout out to you, man. Yeah, for doing that. That was so nice. Uh, you and your wife, very hospitable. If you come here, we'll do the same for you guys. Absolutely. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

So what do we I will want to try some of the Indian food though, because I love Indian food and I want to, you know, we'll make sure that we'll learn how to cook it too.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Awesome, awesome. So, what are we gonna do now? Are we gonna cut the call here and then just we'll post the picture of who whoever's gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

That's what we're gonna do. So again, Anki, thank you so much, and we're gonna find the knocking culprit.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

That's right. That's my I want to do that right now. Yes. Okay. Thanks for listening. We'll see you soon. Bye.

unknown 17:28

Bye.